Parallel Romance
by Cocytus Ace
Summary: Giftfic for TheSib. A series of oneshots/On-going fics that focus around different kinds of romances between the characters of SAO and his own fic Blazing Revolution. Chapter Seven, Helios x Liz. "NOPE, NOPE, NOPE, NOPE, NOPE!" Rated T for language and situation
1. Helios x Liz Part One

**A/N: This is a series of short fics dedicated to TheSib's fanfiction series I Will Not Bow and Blazing Revolution. All the ships shown here are not canon in his own fic and are more of a 'What If' romance that could have happened. But not only is this a tribute and gift fic for a great author but it also helps with my trashy shipping needs as well XD. So lets get started with the first of these ships, one may of you would have never thought to see.**

 **Helios x Liz!**

 **Chapter One: Helios x Lizbeth: Heated Metal part one**

Lizbeth sighed as she pounded her hammer on a hot piece of metal. With Kirito and Asuna busy the only thing she had to take up her time was busy work in her blacksmith shop. She wished that someone from Ren's group would sprout up to at least talk to her so she could get rid of this unwanted boredom but they were as busy as ever. However one individual in particular was one she wanted to stay the hell away from her shop.

One axe crazy maniac named Helios.

She hated that jerk with a passion. All he would do when he showed up was mock her and act like a dick to everyone in the store. She did not want any of his crap entering her shop anytime soon. Last time was a complete fiasco that Ren had to save her from.

'Ugh this is so boring.' She thought with a sigh. 'Maybe I should close up early for the day and go see if I can find something to do."

As she began to take off her apron the bell that hung above her door rung signaling that there were customers. Lizbeth quickly put her apron back on and walked out to the front to greet the customers. "Welcome to Lizbeth's blacksmith shop. How can I help you?"

Taking a good look at the customer's, Lizbeth saw that they looked like members of a gang that congregated in the seedier parts of Tokyo. One was completely bald and burly looking with black leather armor that had a human skull covered with fire emblazoned on it. The other customer was tall yet lanky with a Mohawk and an outfit similar to the other man. They grinned creepily towards her and approached her counter. Liz felt her skin crawl at the lecherous looks she was receiving. "Hey there babe." The bald one said as he leaned onto the counter top. "I heard you're really good at forging swords."

"I am. So what do you need crafted?" She asked as the two grinned to each other.

"We need you to make our 'swords' stronger if you catch my drift." The lanky one said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Lizbeth processed what the tall one had just said to her before smiling as she reached under her counter. "Why certainly, come here and we can get started."

"Sweet! See man I told you she was the real dea-" The lanky one was cut off and Lizbeth took a mighty swing with her mace at his head sending him face first through the window.

Lizbeth poised her mace in front of her and glared at the bald one who stood a bit baffled at what just happened. "Get the hell out of my shop! This is a serious place of business not some sick place where people like you can indulge for money!"

The man screamed in pain as he clutched his face in agony while the burlier one grabbed out his own hammer. "You think you can just hit my bro and get away with it you crazy bitch!" Liz pulled up her mace ready to defend herself from the creep in he stopped in his tracks as he was yanked to the ground. Liz's eyes widened as she looked at who yanked him down and groaned internally.

It was Helios…

"Now what is it that I have stumbled on here? Two shitlords harassing a lonely pink haired blacksmith who has zero redeeming qualities."

"HEY!"

"Shut up, the men are talking." Helios silenced the blacksmith with a raise of his hand. He cracked his knuckles and smiled at the two goons. "Now I may not like this chick but even I feel disgusted at what you low lives are doing. So I'm gonna be nice and give you both a chance to run and not come back here ever again. If you don't… well you're really not gonna like what happens next."

"Ha you think you can beat us!?" the lanky one said as they both drew their weapons on the axe wielding psychopath. The tall one had a short sword and the other one had his hammer still in his hands. "We're gonna beat you until you black out you little brat!"

Helios smiled as he grabbed an axe from Liz's wall of weapons despite her complaints and slowly walked to the thugs. "Hahahaha… This is gonna be fun~!"

I could say that the two thugs put up a valiant fight. That with combined efforts and careful attacking they managed to defeat the Raging Psychopath and humiliate him like they promised.

But that would be a straight lie.

Liz watched the beatdown that Helios gave to the two idiots with morbid curiosity as he not only disarmed both of them easily but also smashed one of their heads against the wall until he fell unconscious and put the tall one into a submissive hold as the pressure from his grip threatened to break his arm.

"Go on say it!" Helios yelled at him as he forced his head up to look Liz in the eyes.

The thug swallowed his pride like a large pill and forced the words out of his mouth. "I'm so sorry for what we did. We're just so desperate for anyone to touch us that we decicded to assault a woman who didn't deserve it. Also you should totally thank the great and mighty Helios for saving your worthless ass and-"

Liz growled in frustration as she threw her mace at the thugs face rather hard making him black out from the pain of the impact. Feeling him go limp, Helios got up as he let go of him and kicked his head once to be sure he was out for the count. "Nice throw for you. Knew that your manish appearance could add something to your physical abilities."

Helios quickly ducked out of the way as the blacksmith threw another mace his face in response of his insult. "I am NOT manish looking!"

"Haha! You can't throw for shi-" the axe wielder was cut off as another mace slammed directly into his face. "AH MY FACE!"

"Ha! Got you asshole!" Liz gloated with a puff of pride in her chest.

Helios slowly got up from the ground and glared at the blacksmith. "Is that really how you treat the guy who just saved you from getting molested?"

"Just because you saved me doesn't mean I'm gonna kiss your ass for it." she said as she opened up her menu. She scrolled down the the report player tag and had them teleported away to jail for sexual harassment. She past Helios and pulled the closed sign from behind the door and flipped it over to the front. "But… I do suppose I need to thank you for that. ...Thanks Helios." Those words sounded like it inflicted pain on her to say them.

"O-Oh… Um you're… welcome Liz…? Am I saying that right?" he awkwardly asked the girl in front of him.

"Y-Yeah… Come on I think you deserve a bite to eat after what you did for me."

Helios smiled at the prospect of free food as he walked out of the door with Liz. "You paying right?"

Liz rolled her eyes at his greed as she locked the door behind her. "As long as you don't go crazy or else you're gonna be working that debt off with me."

"Ha I'd like to see you try to make me pay you back."

The two of them continued their usual banter with each other as they made their way to the 59th floor of Marten. As they walked though Liz couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of respect for the selfless way Helios decided to defend her. He could've easily just left her there but he actually helped her out.

' _Maybe he isn't totally heartless. ...Still kind of a dick though.'_

 **A/N: I would like to thank TheSib for giving me his blessing for making this fic. Chapters won't be so long as I am a busy woman but they will all be connected with each other. So that means the next time we see the next chapter for Hyde x Lizbeth it will be their 'date' at Marten as I am trying to make these romances progress as realistically as possible. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter if you decided to check it out and I hope I did TheSib's OC justice in characterization as well as Liz. I hope to see you all next time!**


	2. Helios x Liz Part Two

**A/N: I'm not dead everyone! Hopefully you all like this new chapter regardless of my month long hiatus. Sorry about that but life can be an itch with a B at the beginning. Anyway let's not focus on my problems onward with the What-if ships!**

 **Chapter 2: Heated Metal part two.**

"Really? Here of all places?" Helios complained as he sat down in his chair. "Can you get more generic with Restaurant?"

Lizbeth rolled her eyes as she sat down in her chair. "Oh shut up, you're getting free food so stop complaining."

The blacksmith was starting to regret her decision to take him to Floor 57 to thank him. Not even five minutes of being sat down and already he's starting stuff. To be honest she didn't know what she was expecting with this. Maybe she'd see a side to him that might have been better? No it was too good to be true when it came to Helios.

"Honestly at least reward my heroism with a feast befitting my actions."

Liz growled as she picked a fork and pointed it at him threateningly causing him to shrink back in fear of being shanked like a prison inmate. "Watch it asshole! Just because I'm nice enough to reward you when you deserve it doesn't mean I won't stab you if it comes to it!"

Helios coughed into his hand and quickly picked up the menu and used it to block his face. "N-Never mind, Restaurant is fine and dandy! I think I'll take the steak sandwich!"

"Good now let's just eat and get out of here so I don't have to be around you anymore than I have to." The pink haired girl said with a sigh as she placed her order to the NPC.

The air around the two was painfully awkward as neither of them had anything positive to say about one another. It was no secret that the infamous Unrelenting Psychopath and the blacksmith extraordinaire were bitter enemies that hated each other to such an extent that it made the Holy Dragon Alliance and the Knights of the Blood Oath look like bosom buddies. The fact that the both of them were together at the same table was more than enough fuel to casual onlookers to grasp their own conclusions to the reason of them being here. Soon enough whispers reached the ears of Helios and Liz and what they said, quite frankly, made them sick. Talk of them being in a hidden relationship, talk of them being on a hate date and playing footsies under the table. Liz would've addressed this nonsense herself if Helios didn't get up first as present his weapon as a demonic gleam entered his eyes.

"Okay anyone else who decides to comment on my being here with the blacksmith is gonna get real friendly with the blade of my axe. And let me just say that my weapon has some issues about violating personal space!" he threatened as he chased the players out of the building.

Liz watched with morbid curiosity as she observed the literally axe crazy player run around trying to give people a taste of his weapon. It was like watching a bull run on a rampage around a neighborhood, a thought that oddly seemed to fit Helios to a T. After he had chased the last person out of the place the ash haired teen sat back down in front of her as he caught his breath.

"Ha… Ha… ….So now that we are alone with nobody to bother us let's just enjoy our meal and never talk to each other again. Sound good?"

"Y-Yeah… let's…"

A heavy awkwardness floated in the air between the two of them as they awaited their meals. Normally Lizbeth would have no trouble striking up a conversation with someone she liked but considering she was face to face with the biggest jackass in all of Aincrad, it left her feeling a little tongue tied at the moment. Her hatred of him also being a damping factor in this.

"So…" The blacksmith jerked out of her daydream and looked at the axe wielder who was current scratching the back of his head trying to make conversation. "...Uh… Why be a blacksmith?"

"Really, that's the question you come up with?" she asked as she held her head in her hand. "Nothing better or insulting under your belt?"

Helios rolled his eyes as he gave a sneer to the girl in front of him. "Oh please like your a fountain of conversation? I'm ahead of you in this race girl."

"Don't you freaking patronize me asshole! I just don't like the idea of having to waste my breath on you." she let out a sigh as she looked out the window of the restaurant. "But if you must know I've always been a handy girl when it came to metalworking in real life. My dad always loved to do metal framing projects when I was young so I learned a lot from him so he's to thank for me picking this trade. Asuna always told me that I shouldn't get involved with the front line stuff cause she'd hate to see me hurt. I know she means well but I can't help but feel a bit useless considering equipment maintenance is about all I do for my friends…" she looked back at Helios and was surprised to see him not ready with some smart remark but rather had a look of interest on his face. "Uh you okay? You don't seem like yourself right now."

"What, oh well I mean… It's just I never expected that your old man was the reason behind you choice in job." he said as he looked away from her.

"And what about you?" she asked as the NPC brought them their food. "What makes the big bad Helios tick when it comes to his violent tendencies?"

"Wow patronizing. I believe the pot is calling the kettle black right now. Well I don't see any reason not to. The thrill and rush of battle is enough for me to give it my all out there. There are so many challenges to face in this death game and I know with my power and Ren's brains, we can beat any challenge. That's the reason why i keep fighting, I want to be known as the strongest player in the game so that when we clear it my mark is left on this world. As for why I can be such a violent ass most of the time well… It's just who I am I guess." Helios said with his usual cocky grin. "Also helping my friends get back to the real world is a plus too I guess."

The blacksmith looked at him impassively. Normally she would make a witty comeback at whatever he said but there was no legitimate way to mock his desires. He wanted to be remembered as strong and someone who helped his friends, nothing to make fun of there. "But what about your family? Don't you want to make it home to yours too?"

Liz immediately regretted those words as she saw Helios's face turn dark as he looked away from her seeming to find the empty chair next to him very interesting. Nature seemed to want to emphasize her mistake as soon enough dark clouds rolled in and rain started to pour down outside. "...I don't really care about that. I got no one important waiting for me anyway…"

"Helios…"

He shook his head and picked up his meal in his hands. "Look just drop it, I'm not gonna open up to you of all people about my past. Let's just enjoy our meal and leave okay?"

She reluctantly nodded her head and ate her meal along with the berserk axe player in relative silence, the only sounds were the moving of silverware. After around half an hour the two of them finished their meals and paid the bill as they left the restaurant.

"Well hope I don't see you around anytime soon." Helios said as he brought his hand up to wave goodbye to her. "I think I'll go bully the squirt a bit before going to the fields to grind for a bit."

"Yeah whatever." Liz said as she rolled her eyes. Seeing as how she prefered to be dry rather than wet she brought up her menu to see if she still had the jacket that Kirito gave her a few weeks ago. She frowned as she saw the item wasn't in her inventory, remembering that she had gotten a nasty gash in the warm piece of clothing a few days ago in a forging accident and had sent it to the tailor to get fixed. "Damn it…"

Helios turned around as he materialized his own jacket from his inventory. "What you forget an umbrella or something?"

She groaned as she knew an insult was coming her way soon enough. "Yeah actually. Look I don't need you giving me crap for forgetting i- MMPH!?" she flailed around in surprise as Helios threw his own jacket at her. Getting the jacket off her face Liz looked at it for a moment before giving Helios a suspicious look. "Okay why?"

"You need it more than me right now. Just don't get too attached to it cause I know how girls love their clothes. I expect it back by tomorrow alright?" He didn't give her time to answer as he ran out into the rain to the teleport crystal to get back to his friends in Wyvern's Inferno, leaving a stunned Lizbeth in his wake.

She looked at the jacket in her hands and back up to see a light blue flash in the distance, signaling that Helios had left the area. ' _Helios, why are you being… so nice to me?"_

This question remained in her head as she put on the warm piece of clothing and placed the hood over her head to avoid getting wet as she walked down to the crystal to go home for the day.

-Floor 50: Alagade Inn-

Helios shook his head like a dog would shake themselves to get all the rain out of his hair. He hated getting wet without a swimsuit on and no summer sun to bask in. ' _Maybe if I didn't give that blacksmith my jacket I'd be fine… Why the hell did I even give it to her in the first place?"_

"Yo Helios!" he heard a voice to his right yell. Looking in that direction he saw Ren with the others all armored up and ready to move out. "Where were you? I thought we agreed that we'd train at 4 PM at Floor 59."

"Yeah I was out doing something when I ran into a little snafu." He said as he gave a smile to them. "But being the awesome guy I am I took care of it in a little bit and got a free meal out of it."

Mai rolled her eyes at his obvious ego stroking. "And what's the reason why you look like a wet dog?"

"Wouldn't you like to know squirt?" he said as he suddenly grabbed the younger girl and gave her an annoying noggie as she struggled to get away from him. He then dropped the flailing kid and moved to the inn where they rested. "I'll meet you there in Danac's fields, let me just get some dry clothes on and I'll be there."

"Alright then just don't be late. I gotta stop by Liz's real quick to pick up an order and then it's off to train. Be quick alright Helios?"

Alice and Dagger noticed Helios stiffen a bit at the mention of the blacksmith's name before he waved him off. "Yeah yeah just make sure she didn't screw the job up."

' _...Thinking back at the restaurant, when she called me by my name it almost sounded like… she wasn't disgusted at me, that she cared for a second there. Ugh why am I thinking about this now? I gotta get dry ASAP!'_

He pushed the thoughts of the pink haired girl away as he got dressed in a fresh pair of clothes and armor as he ran to catch up with his friend.

 **A/N: And that makes chapter 2 of the Helios x Lizbeth ship done! Now I have a question for you all who bother to read this. Do you want me to continue this ship for another chapter or want me to do a new one all together? Tell me in the reviews or via PM so I can get to work as soon as possible! Thanks for reading this you all!**


	3. Helios x Liz Part Three

**A/N: Welcome to the third (and for now last) part in the Helios x Lizbeth what if ship! Next time I update will be a new ship so get hyped!**

 **Chapter 3: Heated Metal part three**

-Floor 48 Lindarth. Lizbeth's Smith Shop-

' _Stupid Helios. Stupid Restaurant. Stupid people. Stupid rain. Stupid warm jacket.'_

These were the thoughts floating through Liz's head as she threw the jacket that Helios gave her onto coat hanger on the back of her door and stomped her way to behind her counter. This day was a damned confusing mess for her from start to now. First some perverts come and harass her then Helios saves her and then she decides to reward him for some reason and now she has a jacket belonging to him.

' _None of this is making sense! Why am I even thinking about that insufferable jackass!? He's been nothing but an asshole to me since I met him and now he's helping me and giving me clothes so I don't get wet? It doesn't make any damned sense and I hate not understanding his motives!'_ She growled hard as she hit her head with her fist to shake the thoughts from her mind. ' _I have to get him out of my mind… Thinking about him will only make it worse…'_

The sound of the front door belling ringing brought Liz out of her reverie as she looked to see the friends in Wyvern's Inferno sans Helios enter the door. "Hey there Liz is my order done? I'd like to see how much better Inferno Blazer is now." Ren asked as the door closed behind them.

"Ah yes it's in the back. One moment please."

The group watched Liz walk into the back of her smithy for her to retrieve the weapon Ren commissioned for her to upgrade. Dagger looked around and observed the weapons on display. To the untrained eye they looked like they could compare with the current top tier loot from Floor 61 monster drops but the merchant could see past this. In reality the weapons were rather middle class in terms of stats, the reason they looked so good is that Liz seemed to like putting in the extra effort to give her weapons a good shine. Shiny things tended to catch the weaker minds off guard when it came to sales.

"Dagger why are you looking at those swords as if they're some exotic animal in a zoo?" Alice asked with a raised brow.

The merchant merely giggled in response and tried to look as innocent as possible. "Oh no reason, just appreciating the fine craft of these blades is all. Nothing more than that."

Alice knew better than to trust her word when it came to wares as Dagger had a habit of knocking down on other's prices and quality to one up them in the market. But getting in her way was an effort in futility in of itself so she let it go. The scythe wielder's eyes fell back to the door they came from and found a sight that interested her. A coat that looked very similar to Helios's own was hung up upon a coat rack with a few others. She remembered how insistent he was to Ashley, the best seamstress in all of Aincrad to get it to fit all his expectations. Ignoring Ren's queries as to what she was doing Alice poked at the jacket for it's information.

 _Wyvern's Flame_

' _A custom made coat made for Helios of Wyvern's Inferno. The warmth it gives represents the burning soul of passion of its wearer'_

"Uh guys I think I found something interesting." she said as she motioned them to come next to her.

Mai looked at the jacket and frowned a bit at it. "Doesn't that look like the jacket Helios made Ashley make for him?"

"It's exactly the same jacket, look at the flavor text." Alice poked at the article of clothing once more and brought up the text to show the others. "I think the real question is that why is in Liz's shop of all places?"

"Alright Ren here's your sword looking sharper than ev… er…" Liz trailed off slowly as she saw everyone looking at Helios's jacket that was hung up on her coat rack. Sweat began to trail down the back of her neck as they all turned around to her with inquisitive stares. ' _Ah crap in a basket! Of course they had to find that right now of all times! Stupid, stupid Lizbeth! No, it's okay I'll just play it off and hand him his sword so they'll be on their way.'_ The blacksmith coughed into her hand as she extended the sheathed blade to Ren. "W-Well here you are Ren, one upgraded Inferno Blazer hot and ready to go."

Ren grabbed the sword from her and gave her the Col that she requested for the job. "Thanks Liz but can I ask why Helios's jacket is here in your shop?"

"Pfft what? What are you talking about I don't have any of that jackass's clothes in this place." The pink haired girl nervously laughed away the question as she turned around to escape to her smithy. "Well I got some work to get done so if you could lock the door behind you that'd be great!"

Before she could make her escape Dagger grabbed onto her collar and yanked her back. "Hold on there, we wanna know the answer to Ren's question. I thought you two hated each other."

Mai's face scrunched up a bit as she voiced a thought festering in her head. "Or maybe you actually do like him in secret?"

"Okay gross! I don't like him like that or will I ever!" Liz denied as she fervently shook her head at the younger girl. "Look it's a long and annoying story and I don't wanna explain it. Can't you just give it to him and harass him for the details?"

"We could do that Liz." Mai started as she picked up the jacket as a mischievous grin crossed her face. "But I think I have a better idea."

"I don't like the look of that smile Mai." Alice said with a frown towards her sister.

Mai smiled again and gave a shrug. "Look she has to return eventually to give Helios his jacket back and last thing anyone would want is for him to come here and make a big scene about it so why don't you come with us to train for a bit? You get to give him his jacket back and go hunting for some upper floor materials. Everyone wins in this situation."

"And then there's the added benefit of you seeing Helios awkwardly trying to play off the jacket situation right?" Ren asked sarcastically.

"That might be an added bonus but it still helps our good friend Lizbeth. So what do you say? Like I said everyone wins."

Liz felt herself sweating harder than ever at being backed up into a corner like this by Mai of all people. She must really have a dislike for Helios if she was willing to drag her into these. As much as she would rather give his jacket back without an audience, if she didn't go they would badger at him for an answer, he'd get violent with vocal outbursts then come over to her shop and wreck the place. She sighed in resignation and nodded her head. "Just don't give me and him too much crap. Last thing I want is for him to take his rage out on my store again."

Mai pouted at her request. "But that's no fun."

Dagger wagged her finger at the rapier user with a small wink. "Now, now Mai think of it like this. You can save this info for later and bring it up whenever he tries to tease you."

"I thought you were his friend Dagger. That kinda seems cold hearted to the guy." Riku said.

"Hey the world of business is a cutthroat place and I like to make sure cards are in my favor. Plus a bit of humility is good for everyone, really I'm doing everyone a favor here. Be lucky I don't charge you all for my golden advice."

The group rolled their eyes as they began to leave the smith shop to meet Helios on Floor 59. As Liz flipped the 'Closed' sign on her door she felt a hand on her shoulder making her jump in surprise. "Geez Alice don't do that!"

"Sorry. Look I want to apologize for Mai being like that. Considering all the teasing Helios puts her through she just wants some payback on him." Alice said with an apologetic smile. "Plus if anything you can just hand him his jacket and leave."

The blacksmith nodded her head at her suggestion. "Yeah that actually sounds like a plan."

"If it's okay to ask did something happen between you and him today?"

"Wh-what makes you ask that?"

"Aha got you!" Alice smiled in victory. "You stuttered for a second there meaning something did happen between you two. I noticed when we mentioned your name back at the inn he tensed up. Look I won't pry but maybe try to get on his good side? It'd be better to have him as a friend than an enemy wouldn't it?"

Liz rolled her eyes as she locked the door behind her. "Yeah when me and him actually get friendly then I'll upgrade your scythe for free. Come on we're falling behind."

Alice smiled to herself as they walked behind Ren and the others. She could tell something happened between those two to make them all jittery at the mention of each other's names not to mention the fact that Helios gave Liz of all people his handmade jacket said something as well. Perhaps there is hope for those two yet.

-Floor 59: Danac Fields-

"The hell are you doing here!?" Helios yelled as he pointed a finger at Liz who merely sighed in response.

Ren rolled his eyes at his friend's yell, of course things would start like this not that he expected things to go different. "Okay well I think you two have some catching up to do. Come on guys let's give them some space while we train."

"But Ren!" Mai complained before being hefted up by her sister.

"Going now, come on Mai."

The two of them ignored Mai's cries of unfairness as the group walked away from them to train. Seizing the distraction of them being alone Liz grabbed Helios by his arm and dragged him away behind a rock so that no prying eyes could see them. The two of them stood at awkward silence for a few moments before she coughed into her hand and opened up her menu. She materialized the borrowed jacket and gestured it to him. "H-Here… The others invited me along so I could give this back to you."

"Oh. Th-thanks…" Helios stuttered as he took the item back from her as a dusty red blush graced his face. He gave a long sigh and placed his hands on her shoulders suddenly. "...Look don't take this the wrong way or something." he muttered as he looked away from the girl, clearly embarrassed by his actions. "This is completely platonic."

"Okay?" she managed to squeak out as he slowly got closer. ' _Ohmygodwhatishedoing!? Was Alice right does he-'_

Helios suddenly pulled away as his face was lit bright like a candle. "N-Nevermind. Forget it, it's nothing important."

A feeling of disappointment washed over Liz like a cold bucket of water. ' _Wait disappointment? Was I expecting something to happen? That he would do something to me?'_ Before he could walk away she grabbed him by the shoulder. "What were you gonna do back there?"

He didn't turn around but she could see his ears start to become red. "I said it was nothing damn it! Leave it at that!"

"Oh no you don't! I'm not gonna let you weasel your way out of this one Helios!" she said as she gave a stern poke to his back causing him to turn around with a scowl. "I have a damn good idea on what you were going to do!"

"Oh do you now!?" he challenged as he stood over her in an attempt to intimidate her. "And what did you think I was gonna do?"

Liz tried to size herself up to his intimidation to show she wasn't going to back down as her face got closer to his. "You want me to spell it out to you moron?"

"Shut up blacksmith! If I'm a moron what does that make you then?"

"Don't you think that you're better than me you ass!" she yelled as she got closer.

Helios got closer as well as he got more pissed. "Piss off moron! You don't know anything!"

"Oh yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

" **OH YEAH!?"**

" **YEAH!"**

"Well I'm gonna show you what you were about to do to me before you backed off like a coward!" she yelled as she got even closer, to the point where their lips were just a hair's breath away.

"Then do it already!"

"Fine!" In a show of impulsive bravado, Liz grabbed Helios by his face and planted a soft kiss to his left cheek and pulled away with a smug look on her face as she saw his face turned hotter than her smelt oven as a look of shock was embedded on his face at her action. Soon enough the realization of her action dawned on her as a scarlet blush came onto her face as well as she backed away slowly. "O-Oh my god… Did I just…?"

"...Y-You did…"

Helios collapsed on the ground as he held his head in shock. Lizbeth, his enemy, just kissed him on the cheek. Nevermind that fact that he was going to do something similar in kin to a friendly hug for returning his jacket unmarred or that this was his first instance of intimate contact with a woman who wasn't his mother or family member. The blush on his face refused to leave as was the same with Liz who tried to slap the blush away from her face, to no avail. She minutely composed herself as grabbed Helios by the face once more causing him to freak out a bit. "Relax! I'm not gonna kiss you again! Look, what happened just now? It stays with us to our graves, it never happened got it."

"You don't have to tell me twice! I wanna forget about it!"

"Good now I'm gonna go back home now and forget everything about today. Next time we meet it's back to business as usual Helios." Liz got up from her position and dusted herself off as she left back to the teleport gate and left the area to return to her shop.

Time passed as Helios remained at his spot from where he was kissed not having moved an inch. He tried so hard to forget the feeling of Liz's soft lips on his cheek and how… not disgusting it felt. He was sure he was going to vomit but now he was more confused than ever. ' _Why can't I get that kiss out of my head!?'_

"Helios you alright?" A voice from behind asked.

Helios let out a yelp of surprise as he turned around to see Ren, Dagger and Alice looking at him strangely. "O-Oh hey guys what's up?"

"We could ask the same thing." Alice said with a smirk as she took mental note of his red face. "Liz is gone from the area, you are sitting here with a red face and not a single level gained on your end with us being here for half an hour already. Did something happen between you two?"

"HELL NO!"

Dagger smiled brightly with a cheshire grin as she nudged Helios by the shoulder. "Oh Helios you dog you! A love hate relationship with little Lizbeth. Tell me, did you two do anything saucy? I have clients who love to hear about romantic dribble."

"I think we should focus less on the situation of Helios and be more concerned at the fact that you sell romantic information about your friends to other people." Ren said with a disapproving look.

Dagger smiled knowingly with a wag of her finger. "Oh then you would NOT want to know who one of my customers are.

-Floor 50: Algade, Kirito's home-

Asuna let out a sudden sneeze, breaking the comfortable silence that was created with her and Kirito enjoying a cup of tea together. "That's weird…"

"You cold or anything Asuna?" Kirito asked from his seat.

The Lightning Flash waved off his concern with the shake of her hand. "Ah don't worry, it's nothing Kirito." ' _Huh why are my shipping senses tingling?'_

-Back to Floor 59-

"But back to the topic at hand nothing happened between me and that Liz!" Helios denied as he brought out his axe. "She just returned my jacket to me, nothing more nothing less."

"Then why is your face red?" Alice teased once more.

"Cause I was frustrated at her now come on! We're losing daylight!" Not giving them a chance to respond Helios charged off to go and hunt monsters to escape the thought of Liz's pouty lip- ' _Stop it! STOP IT! I do NOT like that damned blacksmith! ...Certainly don't...'_

-Floor 48 Lindarth. Lizbeth's Smith Shop-

' _Why can't I get that kiss out of my head!?'_

Both her and Helios seemed to be suffering from the same thought process, both unable to get over her bold kiss that she gave to him. She was semi-scared when she felt a small ache in her heart, a longing sort of feeling. ' _Oh god why am I such an idiot!? The guy wasn't even gonna kiss me and I did it to him! He probably thinks that I like him or something. But I don't like him! I'm one hundred percent sure that I don't like him like that.'_ She walked back to the back of her shop and took note of her materials. A month ago Kirito was kind enough to help her get some of the same metal she used to make the Dark Repulser to create another weapon to sell. But ever since she got the metal she was stumped on what to create with it.

' _...This might be the biggest mistake I might ever make but…'_

Given the recent events of today Liz finally decided on what weapon she would create.

' _This is just to show him I'm grateful for him letting me borrow his jacket. Nothing else because I certainly don't like that jackass.'_

An axe for Helios.

' _...Certainly don't…'_

 **A/N: And that's it for the Heated Metal ship for now my friends! No doubt there are going to be times where I come back to certain ships to add more and more to them to expand their relationships so expect more Hyka (Hyde x Rika) in the future. Next update is one requested by TheSib himself then after that one by Tiche Potato. Have an fantastic day or night you lovely readers! See ya next chapter!**


	4. Ren x Asami Part One

**A/N: I LIVE! -Again-. Anyway sorry for my massive hiatus on this fic but life came up with college and family. We've all been there am I right? Anyway no delay for this chapter, let's get on with the show!**

 **Chapter 4: Sharp Minds (Ren x Asami) Part one. Soaking Springs**

"Well it only took about three hours but we finally have come up with a strategy for the Floor 55 boss fight." Ren reported to Heathcliff, handing him the papers that contained all the details of the upcoming fight. "Spread that around to everyone in the front lines and have them memorize the plan."

The commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath nodded his head in appreciation to the head tactician of the front lines. It certainly wasn't an easy job being the one in charge of a group of players and leaders with differing ideas and strategies but Ren seemed to always come out on top with his ideas. "I thank you for your time Ren. I hope Shino hasn't been giving you a hard time."

"Well sorry to say that hope is lost cause all he did was moan like normal." Ren said with a shoulder shrug. "I'll never understand why that guy is so vocal against me."

"Perhaps it's because of your gilded reputation as a warrior coupled with your brain. Most players tend to be one or the other."

"I thank you for the compliment but I'd rather not waste my day thinking about why Shino hates me. Have a good day commander Heathcliff." Ren said with a wave farewell.

The man returned the gesture in kind. "And you as well."

Closing the door behind him, Ren let out a long sigh of relief at being freed from his prison. These meetings were always mentally exhausting one way or another as both finding out a boss's attack patterns and how to circumvent them is something that took hours of careful study and planning. Not to mention the fact that some of the other tacticians of the front lines tended to butt heads most of the time on how to plan things. Too bad argumentative planning couldn't be weaponized to use against bosses. They'd have enough to kill every boss in the game and then some. He moved past the members of the guild who gave him greetings and farewells as they often did. With how often these meetings were held, all five of the tacticians were on a first name basis with the lowest and highest members of the guild.

Of course being a good friend of the Lightning Flash Asuna is also a good way of getting notoriety.

As he was about to make his way past the front gate of the guild's enormous base of operations, a pair of hands covered his eyes followed by a soft giggle from behind. "Guess who Reny-kins?"

"Come on Asami I'm too tired for the guessing game." Ren sighed.

The hands retreated back to the fellow player's side as she bounced in front of him. "And how did you know it wasn't Eve or Mako?"

He rolled his eyes and continued his walk with Asami walking close to his right. ...Ahem _very_ close to his right. "Eve or Mako doesn't call me Reny-kins and aren't friendly enough with me to play the blindfold game. Also do you mind not standing so close to me Asami? Kinda impeding on my personal space here."

"Oh come now Ren, we're friends and fellow tacticians. There's nothing weird about us being so close considering what we do." Her face adopted a mischievous grin as she leaned even closer to him. "Or are you just getting flustered that a cute girl is so close to a handsome guy like yourself?"

Ren managed to pull away from the tenacious tactician with a soft blush on his face. "Asami knock it off, I like to keep my personal space unpenetrated thank you very much."

The blonde girl gave a quick walk around Ren as she observed him up and down. "Man you sure are stressed out. These meetings are doing a number on you huh?"

"It doesn't matter if I am stressed out or not Asami. I just can't let everyone down when they are depending on me and you all to make these fights easier." He sighed.

Asami stopped in front of him and gave him a hard frown. "I don't wanna hear that excuse Ren. You're no good to anyone if you're killing yourself over it. If we lose you we're screwed six ways from Sunday." She pulled up her menu and sent a message to her fellow tactician who received it in less than a second asking him to party with her. "Now listen here. You ARE gonna party with me. You ARE gonna follow me where I go and you WILL be relaxed by the end of it. Are we clear Ren?"

The teen felt that he was trapped against the wall in this situation. Asami only ever used his actual name whenever she was serious or in the meetings with the others. Coupled with the fact of the kinda scary glare she was sending his way, Ren had little choice in the matter. "Fine Asami I'll go with you. But please don't do anything weird during this alright?"

She gave a mock salute to the teen with a playful giggle. Giggles from girls could be either good or bad on the situation and Ren was willing to bet it was the latter. "Great now follow me Reny-kins. We gotta loosen you up."

He barely had time to send a message to Alice and the others telling them that he would be late before being dragged off via his collar. Asami may have looked cute and fragile but Ren knew from personal experience that she could be just as terrifying as Helios. That in of itself was a scary thought.

Soon enough the duo found themselves on the fields of floor 52 staring at the entrance of a cavern with hot moist air coming out of it. By the looks of it this area was a monster free zone as no creatures were even remotely near the opening.

"I found this little sweet spot a few months ago after a meeting." Asami said pulling Ren with her as they entered the cavern. "It's a place of rejuvenation that just melts the stress straight from your bones."

"And why is it so steamy in there? Feels like a blast furnace with the heat it's producing." Ren asked while waving his hand in front of his face to part the hot air away from him. "It's like a hot spring in there."

The female tactician giggled while giving Ren a thumbs up in confirmation. "That's because it is! The ultimate form of relaxation to melt all that pent up stress away Reny-kins!"

"Wait what!?" Ren's face grew blazing red at the implications of what Asami dragged him to. "Y-You dragged me over here to bathe with me in a hot spring?"

"Why Reny-kins you know I'm not that sort of girl and I am actually offended you would think that. I only want to help you to relax and enjoy yourself without the stress of your duties for a day. Can't a friend do that for another?" Asami argued.

Ren groaned internally at the situation he was in. In truth he knew that Asami, while eccentric, wasn't some sort of pervert trying some bold move. But the thought of bathing with a woman who he wasn't directly related to made him slightly nervous. Hell back when he was young he hardly did that with his mother or sister so to do it with a girl he only met a few months ago? Boy that was sure sending some confusing signals he wasn't used to.

Not to mention denying Asami of her wish to help would only make things even more awkward between them and that's the last thing he wanted with the other tacticians being either insufferable or just indifferent to him

With a reluctant sigh, the leader of Wyvern's Inferno resigned to his fate to the hot spring trip. "Fine I'll do it but you must promise me you won't try anything funny, okay Asami?"

"Scout's honor!"

"Well then… Let's get going…?"

Asami smiled as grabbed his hand with her own. "With pleasure."

With a bit of dungeon crawling and avoiding some sharp rocky outcrops the duo found themselves looking at a glimmering pool of steamy crystal clear water. The pool looked to be around stomach deep sitting down and smooth bottomed so feet getting cut wasn't an issue of any sort.

"Here we are Reny-kins! My secret little hot spring of relaxation and comfort." Asami said in introduction. "Now you're gonna need one of these to bathe in here so open your trade menu real quick."

Ren did as he was told and brought up his trade window to accept the incoming request from the girl. The item he received spoke volumes on how intimate this experience was going to be with her.

Bath Towel (Male)

As he was about to voice a very reasonable complaint at bathing next to a woman, Asami brought up her hand and placed a finger on Ren's lips. "Now before you get up and arms with your adorable arguments, I already thought of a solution to that dilemma. You get in the spring first and face away from me then I'll get in and face away from you too. That way we can both relax without having to take turns."

"...I dunno about this Asami…"

"Oh don't be such a baby and get changed already." she said whilst pushing him behind a tall rock. "Change into that towel over here and I'll be waiting for you in the spring. Don't keep me waiting Reny-kins!"

Footsteps echoed away from Ren and a soft splashing noise was heard behind him, signaling that Asami entered the water. This was incredibly awkward for him right now if not the most awkward he has ever felt in a situation like this. No matter how much he wished he could just melt into the floor and disappear from this situation, his hands were tied. Should he leave then he loses Asami's friendship and support. But should he stay then he would be subjected to the girl's wild teasing and painfully awkward reminders of their situation. "Might as well get this over with…" He muttered to himself while taking off his equipment minus his boxer shorts. He put on the towel around his waist to cover up his undergarments and also had it reach down past his knees.

Walking out of his hiding spot Ren saw that Asami was indeed already soaking in the hot spring with her towel wrapped around the top of her breasts down to the middle of her thighs with her hair tied up into a semi neat bun. She hummed a small tune while enjoying the warm water coat her body in its relaxing hold. As he gazed at his fellow tactician, Ren felt his cheeks heat up red hot. Not only was seeing a woman bathing semi nude was working to overload his brain but the fact that Asami was quite attractive also made this all the more troubling for him. It also made him want to run away and try to forget his embarrassment but he said he would relax with Asami. If Ren could say anything about himself, it was that he was a man of his word.

"Asami I'm ready."

The blonde girl turned around with a small smile on her face to see Ren in his towel clad glory. "Well what are you waiting for Reny? The water won't bite you y'know." she invited playfully while patting the surface of the water. "Don't worry I'm not gonna be facing you like I promised." Holding true to her word Asami turned around backside to Ren to avert her eyes.

Ren gulped hard and slowly placed his left foot into the water. It was hot as he expected it to be causing him to shrink back slightly but continue to dip his left leg into the water. Slowly but surely Ren managed to get inside the hot spring and submerged his body up to his chest into the water. Almost instantly the relaxing feel of the water began to take effect as the teen felt hard knots of stress he didn't even know existed within him began to untie and relax deeply causing him to let out a sigh of pleasure. He felt the world melt around him slowly as the stress that froze his body stiff sunk into the bottom of the spring.

"Feels wonderful doesn't it Ren?" Asami suddenly asked, forcing Ren away from his reverie. "All the pent up stress and worries you felt all day long just bleed away from your body in a single purging moment. As the waves of relaxation and tranquility wash over the shores of your body soft and comfortingly, right?"

"Wow… Asami that was beautiful."

"Thanks, I just thought of it, but I am right though, right? Feeling super mellowed out?"

Ren nodded his head and relaxed even further, sinking his body up to his neck into the warm blanket of water that surrounded him. "Yeah it does make me feel stress free. Like they're no troubles in the world right now."

"I know a way to help that even further you know? Close your eyes Reny-kins."

Ren frowned a bit and spared the girl a single glance. "Asami I don't wanna play games."

"Relax, you know I gave you my word not to do anything funny. I promise this will help okay? Trust me."

Perhaps it was the euphoria of being liberated from the ungodly amount of stress of being the head tactician on Aincrad but he decided to humor Asami's request and close his eyes. He heard water splash and move behind him, meaning that the blonde girl was moving closer to him. Before he could question what she was doing, Ren felt a soft pair of hands rub at his shoulders in a circular motion. It was at that moment that Ren fully realized the situation he was in at the moment.

He was, in fact, getting a massage from an attractive girl clad only in a towel in a hot spring. Alone.

"Asami! What are you-!?" Ren's cry was cut off by a relaxing moan as Asami managed to loosen up a knot in his shoulder that hid from the hot water.

She giggled lightly, continuing her ministrations onto her comrade. "My mom does this for my dad all the time whenever he came home from work tired. She taught me how to do it so I could help my dad and any of my stressed friends. She's a professional masseuse after all."

"I can see she taught you well." Ren said clearly pleased at the treatment he was getting.

"Hehehe, I'm glad to help Ren. I hate to see you have to deal with the stuff you face constantly." she began. "Fighting on the front lines, coming up with strategies to help an entire army, boss rooms with dangerous monsters, your rabid dog of a friend Helios."

"Hey now, he isn't that bad." Ren defended. "He might be a bit chaotic but at least he isn't killing anyone. Plus he's not all that bad if you know him like I do."

Asami rolled her eyes. "Somehow I seriously doubt that Reny-kins, I really do. Anyway so long as I can help in some way, even if it isn't that much I'll do it. I care about you Ren… You mean a lot to me." She stopped with her massage and slowly hugged the teen from behind, causing him to stiffen a bit. "I want you to be able to lean on me when you need support, even if it's something small. I need you to know for sure I'll always be here to give you a boost."

"Asami…" Ren softly removed her hands from his chest and turned around to look at her. "I promise that I'll come to you if anything bothers me but I want you to do the same. If anything bothers you be sure to come to me for help. Can you promise me that?"

"Mmhm."

The two of them continued their soak until the glimmering of red twilight began to reflect in the cave's light. Asami took notice of the light and got up from her spot. "Well I think that's enough hot spring soaking for one day don't you Reny-kins?"

He nodded, rising up from the water and stretching his arms over his head. "Yeah. Thanks Asami I really needed this."

"Hehehe well I'd like to think I know how to read what you're really feeling at times."

The two of them got changed back into their normals clothes away from each other as Asami handed him a dry towel to clean off. Once all dried and dressed the two of them exited the cave feeling refreshed and renewed and began their trek back to town. With no monsters standing in their way they made it back without incident and teleported back into the safety of floor 52's town.

"Well this is where we part ways Reny-kins." Asami said with a small curtsy. "I must be taking my leave or my friends might think something happened to me."

"I better do the same. God knows if Alice hasn't tried to hurt Helios for his antics or not." Ren agreed.

In a swift motion, the blonde tactician gave a small peck to the dark haired teen's cheek causing him to instantly blush red and sputter backwards a step. "I look forward to our next soak together Ren. Until then I leave you with that. Goodbye!"

Ren stood dumbstruck with a hand on his right cheek as Asami gave a wink and ran away with pink cheeks. Moments passed before he gained hold of his senses and shook away the redness from his face.

"If the boss monsters don't kill me, Asami and her closeness will… That girl is something else entirely." he said aloud as he returned to Wyverns Inferno's base of operations.

 **A/N: Annnnnd scene! Hope you all enjoyed this and were able to put up with my absence for so long. With the dawn of summer break upon me, I will be able to update more frequently so I won't keep you all in the dark for so long. Anyway now with this ship done I have one more request from one TichePotato before I go freelance it again. Looking forward to the reviews to come in so please drop one to make my night! Hope you all enjoyed it and goodnight to those who read this chapter**


	5. Silica x Mai One Shot

**A/N: So... sorry that this took EIGHT MONTHS to do but unfortunate I do not do good with yuri. Got to the point where I needed TheSib's help to finish it... I swear that from now on I WILL update this much more often then what happened this year. TichePotato, I hope you enjoy this, as vanilla as it is**

 **Chapter 5: Dragon Flower (Silica x Mai) One Shot**

The sun shone brightly on the flowering fields of Floor 60 if the cheerful chirping of birds was any sign of it. Since the floor was long since cleared of any overly dangerous threat numerous players happily roamed around enjoying the scenery and all it had to offer.

"Hey Silica, check out these flowers over here!"

And of course it meant that the younger players could enjoy the floor as most kids their age should, outside with friends.

The young girl Silica ran to the voice that called out to her, being followed by her loyal and beloved pet Pina the dragon. Ever since their reunion following the dragon's short lived death, the dragon tamer vowed never to let anything bad happen to her loved pet again so that meant never going alone to level up on the upper floors. However this is where her friend that was calling for her came into the picture

"Oh wow these are beautiful!" Silica gaped in awe at the flora. The flowers that captured her attention were bright baby blue with a brilliant yellow stigma that poked out in a showy fashion. "Are there anymore or is this the only patch you found Mai?"

Mai, resident rapier wielder of the famous Wyvern's Inferno, shook her head at the dragon tamer's inquiry. "No these are the only ones around as far as I can tell. The yellow middle is my favorite part of it, especially how it just juts out like that."

Silica gave the flower a soft poke and smiled at it. "I agree, it's so cute. I hope no one else finds these flowers and tramples on them. I want this to be a special place between us."

"B-Between us?" Mai stuttered, her face growing the softest tinge of pink at her friend's words.

"Yeah there's no one I'd rather share this flower patch with than you. After all you're my best friend in this whole game." The dragon tamer affirmed which made Mai smile softly which made the girl's heart skip a beat.

"Y-Yeah best friend! And so are you Silica, my best friend I mean!"

Silica gave a concerned look to the rapier user as the girl in question arose from their spot. "Are you okay Mai? You seem kinda jumpy." The dragon tamer got up as well and pressed her hand to Mai's head to see if she was getting sick. This in turn only caused the girl to grow more red faced and panic-y

Mai waved her hand in an over exaggerated way whilst chuckling nervously. "Nope nothing wrong at all Silica my best friend. Nothing is wrong at all. Oh look at the time my sister is probably worried about me! I should get going okay? Alright see you later!"

The pigtailed girl stood baffled at seeing Mai suddenly bolt from the area with a burning hot face, shoving players aside as she made her way to the gate. Pina gave a small confused tilt of her head, looking at her owner while letting out a confused cry. All she could do is shrug her shoulders in response to her beloved pet. "I'm just as confused as you are Pina."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ooooooooh! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Mai groaned loudly while pounding her head against the brick wall of the inn that she and her guildmates were currently based in. Never in her whole life did she feel so stupid and embarrassed at the same time. Silica probably didn't even mean what she said in the way that the girl was thinking of but damn it if it didn't trigger warning bells in her head. "Ahhh… This is the worst day of my life…" She continued to hit her head halfheartedly against the wall in despair

"Ahem… Am I interrupting something Mai?"

The young girl turned around to see her older sister Alice looking at her with a questioning gaze. Mai's face grew bright red in embarrassment at being caught by her sister in her lowest moment and held her face in her cheeks. "Don't look at me! I'm such a screw up!"

"Whoa whoa hey! What's gotten into you Mai?" Alice questioned, walking up to her sister and wrapping her in a comforting hug. "You know you can tell me if anything is wrong right? I'm here to help."

"...You wouldn't be able to help with this problem…"

"Try me, if it's for you I'll do anything to help. That's what sisters do for each other." The scythe wielder began to move her sister inside the inn. "Come on, you can tell me what's wrong inside the inn okay?"

Mai nodded her head as she let herself be guided by Alice into Wyvern's Inferno's shared room. Being a good sized guild meant they got access to the normally unavailable rooms that were much more spacious than the ones on the lower floors. But it didn't come with separate sections so the room was as co-ed as it could get. But with four of their members already being in a serious relationship, this meant very little to the guild as a whole.

Opening the door Alice moved Mai inside the room but to their surprise they weren't alone. Helios, the resident tank and annoying dick of Wyvern's Inferno was sitting in his bed alongside Dagger, the guilds merchant and off time schemer. In addition to that, Riku was sitting off to the side doing maintenance on his equipment. Helios looked up from his girlfriend to see the sisters enter the room and gave his usual sneer at the younger of the two. "Hey there squirt, have fun on your little play date with Silica?"

Mai buried her face into her hands in embarrassment while Alice stepped forward like the protective sister she was. "Helios shut up. Mai doesn't need to hear your crap today alright?"

"Ooh! Looks like someone is snippy today. Better watch out before Miss Berserker goes on a rampage again."

"That was ONE TIME, I thought we all agreed that you aren't allowed to talk about it anymore!"

"We you see Alice here in lies the problem." Helios raised his left hand and opened it. "Here in my hand is all the F's I give about you telling me to shut up about that incident. As you can see there is nothing there so I will do as I please."

Alice wanted so badly to wipe that smirk off his annoying face but feeling Mai grip her shirt from behind reminded her there were more important things to do at the moment. "Whatever… Mai can you tell me what's been bugging you? I can tell this isn't a recent problem."

"Do I have to with them in the room?" Mai whispered in desperation. "I don't want my problems being made fun of by Helios."

The older sister patted her kin on the head and gave a wink to her. "He so much as says a word about this and I can guarantee you he won't be speaking for the next week."

Considering how scary and threatening Alice could be when enraged, hence why she got the nickname 'Berserker Lotus', Mai took her sister's words to heart and moved her to their beds that were right next to each other. "Alright well… the problem is with Silica."

"Silica? Aren't you friends with her?" Alice questioned, her face confused before coming to a conclusion. "Is she making you uncomfortable? Making fun of you or bullying?"

"What!? No, no, no! Nothing like that at all" Mai said frantically which made the others look her way. "Silica isn't being mean to me at all, she's my friend. My best friend in fact."

"Then what's the problem?"

The younger girl sighed deeply which made the concern from Alice grow all the more. "It's that whenever I'm around Silica I feel all weird inside. My chest feels tight and hot at the same time, I feel so happy whenever she smiles at me and when I see her frown I just want to make her smile again. Do you know what that means Alice?"

This information shook Alice down to her core with what was just said. All these signs, all these emotions that Mai was feeling were the exact same things that she felt when around Ren before they entered their relationship. If the criteria was similar enough then did that mean that Mai-

"Well squirt from the sound of it, it looks like you might be holding a flame for the little dragon keeper." Helios called from his bed.

Mai's face lit up red like the aforementioned candle which made her try to hide it in her pillow and caused Alice to shoot at death glare at the player. "Will you butt out of this!?"

"Oh relax I'm just making an observation here." Getting out of his bed, the tank moved over to the blushing girl and ruffled up her hair. "Looks like a first crush if I've ever seen one. Isn't that just precious?" He moved away from Mai when her older sister tried to sock him one in the face. Missing the shot only served to make Alice even more upset.

"Just shut up already Helios! I don't need you making things worse than they already are for Mai! She's probably really confused about these feelings and I don't think-"

"No Alice, I think Helios might be right." Mai said, her voice muffled by the pillow her head was buried in. "... I think I might be in love with Silica…"

Now there were many things that an older sister should be prepared for. A talk about the birds and bees, explaining the concept that is 'time of the month' and what kinds of problems boys could be to a growing girl. Though Alice never thought in her life she would be teaching the third topic but in an inverted way.

Translation, Alice never thought she'd have to explain lesbian attraction to her younger sister in this or any life time. "... Come again?"

"Now, now let big brother Helios explain this to little Mai. Now squirt there comes a time when we start to become attracted to a person in a way we aren't familiar with. In your case it's very unfamiliar since your current object of affection is another girl."

"Helios…" Alice's voice was laced with a dangerous tone that promised much pain should he continue further. But being the guy he was, Helios continued further with his explanation.

"Now there's nothing wrong with being attracted to another girl when you're a girl yourself. That's what you prefer and no one should judge you for your preferences. Trust me kid, I'll make fun of you for a lot of things but being gay ain't gonna be one of them. It's 2024 squirt, not the dark ages."

Deciding enough was enough, Alice shoved the tank away from them and gave her sister a comforting hand on her head. "Ignore him Mai let me tell you what you gotta do. Now no matter who you fall in love with, the matter of fact is that you're in love with this person. And that tingling feeling you have in your chest right now isn't gonna go away unless you do something about it."

"But what can I do to make it leave me alone?"

"The answer to that is very simple yet it's easier said than done. All you have to do is confess to them and make sure you get a response back be it positive or negative. When you get your answer you can either accept their love and be happy together or respect their feelings and move on."

Mai processed the advice given to her and slowly got up from her position. Although the concept of confessing love to someone sounded like a frightening concept she knew that deep down there was no other option but to go for it. With a deep exhale of breath the young rapier user jumped off of her bed and marched out the door with vigor which made Alice smile with pride.

'Go get her Mai, you can do it.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Kyu!"

"Oh I'm sorry Pina! I didn't realize I was brushing too hard."

Ever since the incident that took place an hour ago with Mai, Silica felt rather confused and distracted about the whole ordeal. Even doing something as simple as grooming her pet dragon was hard to keep focus on since her friend's behavior was just so uncanny. 'Was it something I said or did? All I did was tell her that she was my best friend.'

For the life of her, the dragon tamer could not come up with any sort of reason for Mai's weird behavior. She could chalk it up to something the girl had eaten earlier that day but she only seemed to act strange after their hang out.

'But why was she acting strange?' Silica wondered. The young dragon tamer looked at the flower she had picked earlier from the secret spot she had shown Mai. It was a beautiful flower. For some reason though, it reminded her of Mai.

Silica had any friends in the world of Aincrad. Most of them were just fans of hers that wanted her as their mascot. A select few were ones she actually considered real friends, such as Kirito and the Wyvern's Inferno guild Mai was apart of. But there was something different about Mai in particular. Her feelings towards the girl felt… stronger than the others. Even more than her feelings towards Pina almost. Now that she thought about it, the only person that had ever made her feel like this before was… Kirito.

'Wait. It can't be…' Silica thought to herself. 'Could I be… in love with Mai?'

 **A/N: I Can't believe how long it took to finish this but now that it's said and done, I can now focus on freelancing what if ships again and rekindle my love for writing again. I already have gotten started with the next chapter so look forward to that my friends. See you all next time!**


	6. Helios x Liz Part Four

**A/N: Hello my pretties to the next chapter of my favorite what if ship in Blazing Revolution; Heated Metal (HeliosxLiz). I think you all are going to love this one by the first paragraph alone. Without anymore stalling on my part, enjoy this new chapter that DIDN'T take me an asinine amount of time to make!**

 **Chapter 6: Heated Metal (Helios x Liz) Part Four**

Sometimes Liz had to wonder how she got into these sorts of situations when it came to her and Helios. Cuddled up together in a sleeping bag in the coldness of an arctic tundra, holding each other close for warmth while exchanging a hot passionate open mouthed kiss with him.

Well she supposed she should start from the beginning in order for this to make any sense in her mind.

-Twelve hours earlier-

"... Am I hearing you right?" God, she could never understand why Helios had such a hearing problem. Why did she have to spell things out for someone like him?

"It's like I said you idiot! I want to thank you for lending me your jacket the other day so I need your help getting material for a special axe." Liz groaned out for the second time.

This was not making any sense in Helios's head in any way, shape or form. He thought he was done with Liz after she had kissed him which he was still sure was a delusion of the mind but here she was. "So to thank me for giving you my jacket, you're putting me to work to get my reward? I'm pretty sure that's counterproductive to the act of giving a gift."

Liz scowled at the ash haired jackass and smacked him on the shoulder to which he audibly complained. "Look either you help me make your 'dragon destroying axe' or not. Your call buddy."

He growled at the blacksmith in a threatening manner to try and get her to back off but she stood her ground either out of stubbornness or bravery. However in the end Helios relented and sighed. "Fine, where are we going?"

"To the western mountain on floor 55 to get some special material. I thought I had a good amount to just give you the weapon and go but… I'm short just a bit."

"So you want me to play bodyguard while you frolic along the mountain looking for anything shiny?"

"... Well when you say it like that you make it seem like I'm the bad gu-"

"You are the bad guy in this situation." Helios interrupted.

Liz rolled her eyes and carried on. "But if you want the axe of your dreams then you gotta sweat for it."

Once again a sigh escaped Helios's lips filled with annoyance which didn't go unnoticed by the blacksmith. "Fine, you want me to protect you? I'll do it only for the axe alone!" He pulled up his inventory, glad to see his coat was still in it since he was going to need it for what was to come. "God I hate escort missions…"

He felt a sharp finger point at his back rather roughly which made him stumble forward a bit. Liz's current expression did not look even remotely pleased in the slightest. "Don't talk to me like I'm some burdensome NPC! I'm getting you a gift so be grateful asshole!"

"Oh yeah my bad, I'm sorry! I forgot that NPCs actually have interesting dialogue and can be memorable unlike you!"

"What did you just say!?"

Numerous onlookers were very much treated to the experience of Helios and Lizbeth literally butting heads with each other and pushing their hands against each other while yelling all sorts of obscenities at each other. To some players it looked like the two were seconds away from making out with each other to relieve the sexual tension between them but once Helios took notice of the crowd and what they were saying, they didn't stick around for his rage. It took around nearly thirty minutes of screaming at each other but the two players found themselves at the gate with the appropriate winter apparel.

"Teleport, Granzam west mountains!" Liz shouted. The two of them were bathed in a aura of blue light that teleported them to their destination. Within seconds of arriving, a cold wind blew past the both of them, making the blacksmith shiver despite her fixed jacket helping her keep warm. "Why is it even colder than last time!?"

"Just spit balling here but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that you're wearing a freaking hoop skirt!? Ever hear of this amazing thing called pants? Quite the modern revolution if I do say so myself."

Not wanting to deal with his crap, Liz simply decided to march onwards to the mountain and not give anything to say to the asshole in company.

And so the duo traveled together up the mountain range, fighting off hordes of enemies and getting useful drops overall. Soon the blacksmith and the tank found themselves at the top of the mountain that held hundreds of gem like crystals sprouting out from the ground. This site brought as wave of nostalgia to Liz's heart as she remembered her time with Kirito in the dragon's den.

' _Note to self; keep away from dragon this time around.'_ She thought to herself. "Alright Helios it looks like the dragon that guards the material isn't around for right now so it's the perfect time to go and collect."

"Wait, dragon!? When the hell were you going to let me in on that huge detail!?" He snarled at the blacksmith. "I don't appreciate being a meat shield for you from the claws of a dragon!"

"Shut up! I didn't mention it because I knew the dragon was going to be gone during this time of the day!" Going into her inventory Liz pulled out some rock scaling gear and began to attach it to herself. "I need you to hold the gear secure while I go down into the lair to retrieve the metal. It only spawns when a high level blacksmith is around the area."

The ash haired player begrudgingly nodded his head and held the gear firmly in place as Liz made her descent downwards into the chasm. Once she hit the floor, the blacksmith immediately began digging around the area in search of the unique metal. Almost instantly she struck metaphorical gold as two large chunks found their way into her hands. She giggled to herself remembering what Kirito told her about what the metal was made out of.

' _Wait til he finds out his axe is made out of dragon poo.'_ Liz thought with a snicker.

"Hey you done there yet!" Helios called down into the chasm. "The wind is getting fierce and my arms are chafing!"

"Just hold out for a few more seconds you big baby! Just need a few more ingots!"

Really those two would've been good enough to finish the axe but who said being overstocked was a bad thing by any means? True one might see it as being greedy but hey, this was her livelihood and she did her homework. She supposed that twenty ingots were good enough for the day and tugged at the rope to signal Helios. The axe-wielder used his strength to yank her up rather quick and rough much to her dismay. However just as she was almost there he stopped lifting which made a lump of caution enter her throat as he peeked over the edge with as teasing grin.

"So how badly do you want to come up?"

"Oh no, do not do this right now!"

"Oh yes, I will do this right now as I feel I am deserved this. After being your bodyguard, rock climbing buddy and muscle power for the better part of two hours I am much in the need to hear how much you need to be on solid land again." He said while shaking the rope which made Liz freak out to try and cling to the icy wall. "So how badly do you want to come up!?"

"Stop screwing around jackass!" She yelled at the laughing teen. "The dragon will be back any second now so we have to get moving!"

This clearly put a rain on Helios's parade as he lost his expression of joy and continued to pull her upwards. "You know you really know how to kill a mood."

She didn't even have the energy to waste on the asshole after she was brought up on solid land again. She knew that being a nice person would come back to bite her in the end so she couldn't blame anyone but herself for being too nice. The duo walked in silence down the mountain range back to the teleport gate so they could get the crafting over and done with. Turns out Helios wasn't lying about the wind picking up as the slashing force of the icy cold wind made her stop on multiple accounts to shield her face as did Helios. They clung close to the wall of the mountain side while scaling downwards as to prevent any accidents but it seemed that the wind was amplified in this carved tunnel. The force of the wind was enough to push even Helios back a bit which raised many concerns to Liz. Even more so when snow began to get mixed into the wind.

"Shit! We're getting caught in a blizzard!" Helios yelled over the howling winds. Liz yelped in surprise as the teen grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him, her face being pressed against his broad chest. "Stick close alright!? We can't get blown away and separated!"

The coldness of the wind seemed like less of a bother as the growing heat in her face overtook the numbness of the cutting wind. Not trusting her voice to not sound like a stuttering mess Liz nodded her head against his chest and continued moving in tandem with him.

A huge burst of wind made both players shrink into each other for warmth as the freezing gust nearly cut their faces. Once it died down both Helios and Liz realized how close they were to each other the two of them separated almost instantly with bright glowing faces that could be seen despite the surrounding white of snow. Regardless of this the blacksmith still stood close to the axe wielder's chest to prevent being blown out the side of the mountain. Soon they made it down to the west side of the mountain, only halfway there to the gate. But for them it was a nightmare as the wind was blowing from the west side so they were taking the brunt of it in spades.

"Helios! I can't see!" Liz yelled over the screaming winds in her ears.

He brought her in closer against him and brought out his axe to slam it into the side of the wall to keep their ground. "Just hold tight! It'll die down soon and then we make a break for it!"

However in spite of his saying that, mother nature seemed to be on her period today as the spinning winds formed a shuttle loop of sorts that lifted both players off their feet and hung them midair. Liz holding for dear life on Helios and Helios holding for dear life on his axe. As hard as they both tried to hang on, in the end their futility proved to be their undoing. Bigger than any before, a near tornado like gust of wind knocked his grip away from his axe making the both of them spiral downwards into the ravine next to the mountain. Liz screamed for her life while latching herself onto Helios like a vice while he struggled to look at where they were falling. Soon enough he saw ground fast approaching absolutely covered in snow. Knowing that Liz didn't have the defense to survive a full on crash, Helios grabbed hold of her and made his back face the incoming snow. There were no questions raised by the blacksmith as only a few seconds later she fell unconscious at the impact the both of them made on the snow.

-An hour later-

Liz slowly groaned awake, surrounded by a field of white and nothing but white. Looking around once the fog in her vision ceased, she made note of what was a ravine like road stretching in front of her and back. She briefly wondered where she was at before remembering who came with her.

"Helios!? Helios where are you!?"

"-Nder her-!" A muffled voice came from under her.

Looking down, Liz 'eep'ed in embarrassment as she got off her savior and helped him out of the ice cold ground. The ash haired teen groaned in massive relief and pain once he sat down on his rear. "Geez, next time warn me when you're going to rest your butt on my head woman!"

It took some time to process what he had just said but once the information went through her face went volcanic in heat. Her scream pierced Helios's sensitive eardrums as she covered her face with her hood.

"Okay, ouch! Scream louder why don't you?"

"Shut up you pervert! I'll kill you for looking up my skirt!"

"Don't flatter yourself! My head was buried face first in the snow after saving your ass! Why don't you have some appreciation for me saving your damn life!?"

"What are you…" In a flash, the memories of the fall came back. The tunnel of wind that pushed them off, her holding onto him for dear life, him shifting them around. It was only then she noticed their HP bars were vastly different. Hers was at half while Helios was in the red. "Oh geez… Here let me help you."

Usually a smart aleck remark would follow anything Liz said but the fact that he could hardly move allowed silence to reign supreme. He felt a huge burden leave his back as the soothing feeling of a healing crystal washed over his tired body. "Thanks…"

"Where are we anyways? I don't remember any sort of ravine nearby the place."

"Maybe because you were too busy eye humping Kirito." He ignored her indignant face and brought up the map of the area. "Looks like this place was made for people who fell off the mountain and survived. It's a safe zone but we're quite a ways away from the teleport gate."

Liz looked to the sky that was already dusk. She had no idea how long they were out for but now it was clear that night had fallen on them. And judging by the map Helios brought up, they were several miles away from the gate. The wind pushed them back much farther than she had thought.

"Anyways let's just keep on going. We don't have to worry about monsters coming to kill us and the blizzard is gone." He tried to get up to lead the way to the gate but grunted in pain as his leg buckled down. "Shit…"

Liz gasped at the twisted shape of Helios's leg. He must've landed on it at a bad angle during the crash for his knee to be bent like that. Regardless that this was just a game, the pain he was feeling was dull but real. He wasn't getting back up anytime soon in that condition.

"Oh no you don't!" Liz yelled as she watched him attempt to stand again. She pulled him back down on his rear and took off her backpack. "We are setting up camp here for the night."

"The hell are you talking about!? I'm-"

"Ready to fall over the second you stand up on that foot. Now sit down and let me see your leg." Even though she asked, she didn't give him any choice and the cry of pain from him told the blacksmith everything she needed to know about his condition. "Why are you trying to make this seem like no big deal and walk it off? Clearly that isn't working and it'll only make the pain worse."

"In case you forgot, I'm a tank. I can't cry and complain every time I get an injury." He said, watching Liz dig through her backpack. "People depend on me to take the DPS and take aggro so bitching at every cut is meaningless."

Helios once again bit his lip and winced at Liz grabbing his injured leg and began wrapping a gauze like strap on him. "This is different you stubborn idiot. What use are you as a tank if you can't even walk straight? Good thing I'm here to fix your broken leg." She was glad that she remembered to bring some emergency items. Given her level it wasn't safe to be off spelunking for materials but when she needed to get her hands dirty, some first aid supplies never hurt anyone. "Now this _might_ hurt a bit but I'm doing it because it'll help in the long run."

She expected screaming when she bent his leg back into place but the sound that came out of his mouth sounded like a dying coyote. Normally, Liz would've reveled in his suffering as usually the jackass deserved it for being a general dick. But now at this point, all she could do is profusely apologize for her actions while he made agonizing sounds.

Soon once the pain had faded and his leg was properly put back into place and wrapped up according, Helios felt a cold shiver run across his spine which prompted Liz to start with lighting a fire to keep them warm.

"Heh, looks like you aren't as useless as I thought you were blacksmith." A swift flick was his punishment for his smartass statement. "Is this how you treat injured people?"

"Is this how you treat the girl who fixed your leg?"

"Is this how you treat the guy who saved your life?"

She knew there was no winning this argument in this condition because as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. He did save her life from dying in that crash landing. Grumbling to herself, Liz busied her mind by unpacking some food for them to eat.

Helios grabbed the sandwich thrown to him and immediately took a solid bite out of it. To his surprise it was rather delicious which made him scarf down the rest with ease. "Did you make this?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? It's just a sandwich. I can make so much more than that one little thing." Liz said nonchalantly as she ate her meal by the fire.

A sigh of contentment escaped his lips while staring at the warm fire. "Man, if I had a girl who made me food like this every day, I'd hold her and never let go."

"Then why don't you get Dagger to do it? Since she loves to be at your side all the time, might as well make it official."

She couldn't figure out why but mentioning the red haired merchant brought on a sour taste in her mouth. In the earlier days of SAO every merchant in the game feared her due to her reputation of undercutting prices and stealing customers from them. But what terrified and confused Liz to no end was the thought of her and Helios in a relationship together.

Thankfully for her, Helios didn't notice and just threw the paper wrapping of the sandwich into the fire. "You'd think that but no. We couldn't take the full step into that territory."

Now Liz felt even more concerned at the feeling of relief fluttering in her heart at hearing his denial of a relationship. "Why not?" Mentally, she cursed herself for continuing the conversation.

He frowned as he looked up into the sky. "I don't know what it was. I mean I tried to really like her romantically but I couldn't feel that way about her. In the end the only thing we could see each other as were close friends but I'm still glad I decided to talk to her that day. She really likes being around the others."

"Then you aren't dating anyone…?" Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

"Not really. No one is meeting my standards."

"And what are those standards?" STOP IT!

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

"... Because-"

Don't!

"-I just might-"

Don't say it!

"-know someone who might be interested in you."

… Whew, dodged a bullet there.

The ash haired teen raised a suspicious eyebrow at this weird behavior from Liz. Maybe it was her feeling sorry for causing his broken leg or something stranger but she was acting way too nice to him. It was setting off alarm bells in his head that this wasn't to be trusted. "Well sorry to say I don't do blind dates. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

A sullen silence fell upon the both of them leaving a heavy air on Liz who didn't like it in the slightest. She poked around in her inventory to pull out her sleeping bag and just sleep the rest of the awkward night away. "Well I'm headed off to bed. Don't stay up too long."

"Hmm… Think I'll do the same."

She was perplexed to see him just lie down on the cold snowy ground and not bring out anything to keep him warm. "Uh aren't you going to bring out a sleeping bag?"

"I would if I owned one. But yeah… I don't."

"Oh my… Get over here!"

Helios was confused but that emotion turned into surprise when Liz grabbed him by his arm, ignoring his yelps of pain and put him into the sleeping bag that she brought out. "The hell did you do that for!?"

She sighed at his stubbornness to accept an act of goodwill from her and poked him hard on the nose. "Because you big stupid! I'm not gonna let you freeze to death out here after saving my life. Take the sleeping bag and sleep peacefully for the night."

"And what about you smartass? Do you have an extra sleeping bag or are you gonna freeze yourself into a block of ice waiting for me to get up?"

And so, Liz's bulletproof plan was shot through by the most powerful force in the universe. Common sense. Why would she bring two sleeping bags when she often traveled solo to get her stuff done? She had no answer for the ash haired teen and just opened and closed her mouth like a gaping fish looking for an answer.

Now it was Helios's turn to yank Liz by the arm causing a scuffle with him forcing her into the sleeping bag with him. She tried to fight it by yelling and shoving but that made him all the more determined to make her go in. Soon enough the two of them were face to face with each other, both fitting snugly inside the sleeping bag.

"Okay so we just go to sleep and leave once my leg is healed in the morning, okay?"

"Fine by me. Gonna be hard for me to sleep with you all over me though."

"Your preaching to the choir sister."

And so the staring contest began between the two with both of them never feeling more awake in their lives. So close they were to each other that they could feel each other's breath on their faces. This made it all the more uncomfortable between them as, while they were warm, the closeness made things much more awkward than they should've been. Helios had only himself to blame on this however but he couldn't stand an act of charity just for the giver to suffer.

He stared deep into Liz's eyes with nowhere else to stare and found himself unblinking at her gaze and noticing some curious details about her. She had the same determined look on her face that he was holding, she had cute little freckles on her cheeks. Now that he thought about it, Liz herself looked pretty cute all things considered.

' _Wait what!? No! Stop that! I know that I don't find her cute! I am one hundred percent sure of it!'_

Liz on the other hand was going through a similar train of thought.

' _Stop! Thinking! That! He's! Handsome! Stop it brain!'_

Now it was clear by now that the both of them were in clear denial of their feelings for each other. Liz wanted to deny that things changed between them ever since he saved her from those thugs. Helios wanted to deny that his heart skipped a beat when she kissed him a few days ago. But no matter how hard they fought to shake these thoughts away, they kept coming back stronger than ever.

Out of his control of emotions and actions, Helios found his face moving towards Liz ever so slowly. Not only was he shocked of his actions by also by the fact that the blacksmith was reciprocating the action and began to move glacially to him as well. The two of them cried hard in their minds to stop what they were doing but their hearts had long since taken over.

And in that moment, the two of them kissed each other full on the lips.

Now we have reached the beginning of our tale with the insane axe player and the headstrong blacksmith making out with each other and holding each other as close as can be. The feelings they had long since denied have come up full force and was currently being expressed in their passion.

Once the two of them finally broke for air, nothing could be said between them catching their breath. As much as they hated to admit it, that kiss just felt _right_ by all means. The silence between the two was comfortable and peaceful with nothing needing to be said. The two teens soon fell asleep in each other's arms with smiles blessing their faces at letting their hearts go to finally sort their confused feelings.

-The next morning-

The two of them woke up to a bright warm sun and the warm feeling of their embrace upon each other. Helios was the first to get out of the sleeping bag to test his leg. Both him and Liz were relieved to see that there was no complications to speak of and he had full control of his leg once more.

They then packed up their belongings and cleaned up the fire before beginning their trek back to the blacksmith's home with no real problems arising. The two of them walking awfully close to each other. Once they had made their way to the smithy, Liz knew what Helios wanted and how he wanted it so she simply began her work on the weapon with the ingots she obtained yesterday.

Helios felt an unbidden thought of her cuteness creep up on him as he saw the determined and focused way she struck her hammer down on the heated metal. Soon enough with a bit of hard strikes, the metal formed into a brilliant and beautifully colored aquamarine axe. The handle was long and engraved with a dragon wrapping around the pole while the blade of the axe itself was a double edge side that shone like a diamond with a red marking of a dragon's claw on both blades. He grabbed his new weapon and gave it a few test swings just to make sure it fit the bill in everything he had wanted from the axe.

It did, right down to the T.

"You know, that item doesn't have a name Helios." Liz said from her side of the smithy. "Maybe give it something people will remember."

"I already had the perfect name in mind once I had gotten it." He said while pulling up the axe's info and pressed on its name box.

' _Dragon Destroyer -Helios-'_

Liz felt a smile make its way on her lips from seeing Helios's dorky name for the weapon and his giddiness at seeing the name officially be engraved upon its kind. She was happy that she followed through with her decision to make Helios happy with a new weapon, especially since he lost his beloved Executioner when they fell off the mountain.

"Well this has certainly been an adventure hasn't it?"

Liz nodded her head and gave a playful slug to his shoulder. "You got that right big guy. Bet you're as happy as could be."

"Damn straight I am! Gonna rub this in the faces of everyone and not gonna tell them where I got it!" He put his weapon away before surprising Liz by bringing her in close and giving a peck on the cheek. "And it's thanks to you."

"... Helios… Just what are we right now?"

"Eh?"

She held his right hand in her own and brought it up to their eye levels. "I mean we kissed each other in such a passionate way and ever since then I can't get you out of my head. It was consensual, it was emotionally liberating and just felt _right_ to kiss you but I don't know where we go from here."

Helios stared at the pink haired girl as she expressed her worries. It was true that while they clearly loved each other, neither of them had outsight said their feelings on the matter nor shown interest in having a relationship. While he knew that their love didn't need to be said, between them it was needed to define what exactly their relationship was. "It's a weird one isn't it? Our relationship. We kissed yet nothing needed to be said so why bother trying to complicate it with words."

"But don't you think we should have an answer if someone asks about us?"

"Then let's make this simple. Do you want to be my girlfriend."

"Yes!"

"No hesitation. Nice." He said with a smile as he pulled Liz into his arms. "Well congrats then, you're my girl."

She enjoyed every second of the blissful feeling of the embrace and held on as close as she could. When the two finally separated, Helios took notice of Liz twirling her fingers around each other. "You know… I really don't have anything to do today and well… I'd really like to get to know the real Helios…"

A smile tugged at his lips as he patted his new girlfriend on the head. "Well then I guess as a good boyfriend, I should listen to what my girl wants."

And so Liz jumped back to the front of the store and put the closed sign on the front door and locked the guest entryway so no one could interrupt their talk.

One of Aincrad's most infamous rivalries had come to an end. And with its end sprung up one of the most infamous and unbelievable romantic couples to ever show itself in all 100 floors of the game.

 **A/N: And behold! The ship is born like a crying baby! I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter that is by far the longest I've written in a while. And trust me when I say this is by no means the end of the road for these two. No the rest of Wyvern's Inferno and Kirito's friends need to see what comes of this ship so that means more of this! So happy! Anyway. Me being a nerdy butt about ships aside I hope you all have a good day or night and I will see you next chapter!**


	7. Helios x Liz Part Five

**A/N; Alright hey guys, took me a while but here is the next chapter of my favorite what if ship! Get ready for many reactions that will probably** **reflect** **the reader while reading this chapter!**

 **Chapter 7: Heated Metal Helios x Liz Part Five**

Lizbeth wiped the sweat from her brow after finishing another one of her smith jobs. Repair jobs were always such a hassle to do since nearly everyone and their grandmothers loved to ignore something so simple as weapon durability. Considering that this was literally a death game, one would be more careful to avoid their weapon breaking but nope, just keep on hitting monsters with them why don't you? But then again she supposed if people went bashing in monster heads then she'd be out of a job.

' _Now if only I could get some help moving this stuff. Helios is too busy to ask for help right now…'_

"Hey there Liz! How've you been?"

' _Hmm, not Helios but she'll do just fine.'_ Liz turned around to see Asuna walking through the front door and smiled at her. "Oh you know, just the same old stuff. How's the honeymoon life with Kirito going?"

"L-Liz that isn't for discussion!"

The blacksmith gave a laugh at her best friend's stuttering and blushing face while placing down a box of materials. "Relax Asuna it's a joke. I hope married life is all that you thought it was."

The auburn haired girl gave a nod and smiled mostly to herself. Things had certainly been eventful since she and Kirito got married and bought their own place to live in on floor 22. It was for the best that she didn't extend this knowledge just yet but ever since having found a young eight year old girl by the name of Yui in the woods one day, their cabin felt much more homey. Especially since the girl had come to treating the two of them as her mother and father which was surprising to say the least but they loved her all the same.

"Hey Liz, has something happened to you recently?"

The blacksmith turned to her friend and raised an eyebrow to her inquiry. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that I noticed you seem a bit happier lately." Asuna smirked herself and leaned on to the countertop. "Maybe found yourself a boyfriend?"

"Please, like I'd do something so dangerous with someone like you around. I would rather avoid to scrutiny of matchmaker Asuna thank you very much."

"Oh come now, I'm not that bad!"

Liz almost wished there was a way to raise her eyebrow harder at this. "Would your husband, Ren or Alice defend you on it?"

She wanted to raise a hand to defend herself but knew that if it were to come down to it, they would just agree with her friend. Liz hummed to herself seeing her best friend's defeated look and just offered a quick 'that's what i thought' look to her. Asuna stuck her tongue out at the blacksmith who returned the gesture in jest causing the both of them to laugh at how they were acting.

"Anyways maybe something happened and maybe something didn't. Ever think I might be happy just because I'm in a good mood?"

Asuna rolled her eyes hard at that statement. "Oh please, you might as well have confirmed something good happened to you with that."

"Still not telling~!" Liz teased. "If you don't mind though, care to help out a bit?"

"Sure."

The two kept on going back and forth for a while as Asuna helped her with moving materials to their respective locations and helped place the finished orders on their racks. Having an extra pair of hands was always good to have around in the long run. Too bad Asuna was a part of such a large guild and high in charge, she could easily be her apprentice if she applied herself to the blacksmith lifestyle.

That made Liz softly snicker. ' _Yeah right. Asuna, a blacksmith? Might as well turn Kirito into a musician then.'_

As the two continued their work around the shop the front door opened, catching their attention. Asuna scowled as she saw Helios walk through the door with his axe over his shoulder who raised his eyebrow at the look he was getting from the Blood Oath vice captain. "Oi, what's up with that face?"

"You know perfectly well what this look is for Helios." Asuna started. "Whenever you come to Liz's shop it never ends well for you or anyone involved. Do I need to call Ren over here?"

The ash haired teen walked right past the auburn haired girl and groaned at her threat. "Do you really have to play the tattle tell sibling the minute I come through here? I'm just here for business."

"Watch it Helios, don't think i've forgiven your antics from the past. Remember Sheeptar?"

"I'd rather not remember that stupid boss Asuna!"

"That's not what I was talking about…"

Helios gave her an angered stare of disbelief. "For the last time, I cannot be held responsible for stoned Kirito, that guy is an idiot!"

Before Asuna could continue grilling Helios for information further, Liz held her back by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Asuna calm down. Thanks for your help but you can go now."

"Liz I am not going to leave you alone with this jerk. You know how things get with you and him." Liz had to give Asuna credit for sticking up for her friends but now things were different.

"Um hello, this 'jerk' can still hear you!"

The blacksmith waved away her worries and began moving to the other side of her counter. "Don't worry Asuna it'll be fine. Just go and lock the door behind you, I can handle this."

"Liz…" There was something strange going on at this moment. Both Helios and Liz were looking each other right in the eye with a neutral expression, neither of them showing any clear cut emotion. Not the hatred high, spiteful stares she was used to seeing them give each other. "... Alright I suppose I'll go. Just be careful okay? Don't let him bully you into anything."

"Still standing right here."

"Shut up, I'm leaving."

Both pairs of eyes watched as Asuna left through the door and made sure to lock it before her exit. Once the door shut closed the two looked at each other before cracking smiles and started to laugh after the seriousness left the room.

Liz calmed down a bit from her laughing fit and shook her head from her best friend's overprotective antics. "Sorry about that Helios, she's like an overbearing mother."

Helios moved to his girlfriend and pecked her on the lips to which she returned delightfully. "As long as she doesn't go to Ren and make problems it's fine. You're the only one whose opinion I care about after all."

"Glad you think so highly of me considering not too long ago you'd insult my looks." She quipped which earned her a soft flick to the head.

"Oh stop that. You know things change with time." He pressed another kiss to her lips which was graciously returned. "What matters now is what I think of you at this moment and beyond, not the past."

Much as she loved the feeling of Helios's lips on hers, she had to draw the line once he moved downwards and started to nip at her neck. "Whoa there cowboy, no getting frisky yet. I still have some jobs to do."

He slowly separated from his girlfriend with a disgruntled expression on his face at being cut off but then smirked wryily. "Well then I guess I'll just have to help you get those jobs done as quickly as I can, now won't I?"

"Geez what's flipped your switch?"

"Can't a guy just want to kiss his girlfriend?" He asked while leaning in to go for another kiss.

"Well you can certainly kiss me once we get this stuff done." She moved away from her boyfriend's lips as to prevent her from getting caught up in the passion and walked to her smithy. "Now buckle up Helios, I need that strength of yours to help lift these supplies."

The axe wielder sighed but stood tall as he started to lift the boxes that Liz needed to work with. He wasn't one for blacksmithing or smelting but the determined look on her face as she performed her livelihood made him at least want to help. That look of single minded focus and passion for her work is something that he admired both in respect for her and his personal love.

He watched Liz as she struck the hot metal with her hammer time and time again with such attention to detail. Once the metal had formed into a weapon she got Helios to give her another and another to finish the weapon crafting orders for the day. Before long two hours had already passed for the duo and their hard work at getting these requests done and over with and once Liz decided to hang up her smock for a quick break, Helios pounced upon her and started to kiss her neck once more.

"Alright, what's up with you Helios?" Liz managed to say despite the blissful feeling of her boyfriend's lips on her neck. "You are way too needy today."

Helios stopped kissing her neck and moved his head right in the crook of it. "Ren and Alice were acting all lovey dovey before we split up for the day. Made me want to find and kiss my own girlfriend."

The blacksmith sighed at his explanation and held his head with her left hand. "Why can't we just be open about our relationship Helios? It would things so much easier on us. Heck, you could even move in with me so we could see each other more often."

"I'd love to do that babe but we both know I have a lot of enemies who hate my guts. If we made this public then people would start to get you to get to me and I don't want to put you through that sort of crap." He moved his head from the crook of Liz's neck and stared her in the eyes. "I refuse to call myself a man and let you get put in danger."

The pink haired girl smiled at his worries and gave him a reassuring kiss on the lips. This was a side not many people knew about when it came to Helios. A more softer and careful side to his personality did exist but he was very much against showing it to anyone he couldn't trust. This side showed a lot more care, was less egotistical and much more vulnerable than the usual Helios. This Helios is one of the things that made Liz fall in love with him for. A side she only caught glimpses of before their trip to Grandzam Mountain. " Remember buddy, I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting. I gather most of my materials single handedly so I think I can handle anyone you can."

"Damn woman, you sure know how to make me fall for you even deeper don't you?" he asked as he prowled closer to her face.

"Only for you, my manly psycho." she whispered right back at him.

This flipped both of their switches as they began to make out with each other with just as much passion as they did on the snowy mountainside. All the while not aware of the three pairs of shocked eyes watching them as Helios pinned Liz against the wall to continue their open mouthed kiss.

-Two hours earlier-

Asuna paced back on forth in Lindarth at Floor 48 with incredible worry. It had been quite some time and Helios had still yet to leave from Liz's shop. The only reason she knew this was because of having the both of them on her friendlist which she was thankful to have the foresight not to delete him off it after that goddamned Sheeptar incident. But now this situation had just went from wary to concerning within an instant and she did not like it one bit.

' _Kirito can help out. I doubt he'd want his favorite blacksmith to be in any danger.'_ Asuna rationalized in her head while shooting him a message for help. The reply came back within minutes and it did not look positive.

' _Nope, not gonna do it. I had enough of Helios when he had us 'power level' our Alchemy stats. Not jumping into that boat again, sorry Asuna.'_

The chestnut haired girl kicked a bit of dirt in frustration. One of the few people Helios was actually shaky against didn't want to help. ' _Well I really didn't want to have to get Ren involved but… No dang it! Liz is in danger and she needs your help no matter what she says! It's your job as a best friend!'_ Moving her reservations aside, Asuna found Ren in her friend list and sent a quick message to meet up with her on Floor 48.

She only had to wait for five minutes before a sort of disgruntled leader of Wyvern's Inferno came through the teleport gate. "Alright what did Helios do this time Asuna?"

"How did you even-?"

"Every time you've called me, it's either been a meeting about a boss raid that was happening soon or Helios started something. I know that we haven't made much progress on the recent floor so it has to be the latter." Ren clarified with his impeccable logic.

Asuna had to hand it to the teen, he wasn't the head tactician for no reason. "Well it's not so much what he's done but rather what he might do. Right now he's at Liz's blacksmith shop and he's been there for the past thirty minutes doing who knows what."

"Couldn't it just be that he's going for a repair visit? Knowing how much trouble he would get in if he started something, I doubt Helios would do something to piss off Liz."

She wanted to take Ren's words at face value, but considering recent events, couldn't find it in herself to do so. "I'm sorry but I cannot trust him while he's by himself. Especially after what happened six months ago."

"Look I get that Sheeptar was-"

"Not Sheeptar Ren, something more recent that that."

This got Ren's attention. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear about the sanctioned attack he committed on the Knights of the Blood Oath around half a year ago?" Surely being his leader meant that Ren was constantly keeping tags on his wild tank.

However the tactician shook his head with a solemn look on his face. "I didn't but now I feel as though I should be more involved in his life than I currently am."

"Around that time, Helios showed up to the base of the guild and started throwing rotten fruit and eggs at the front gate while yelling obscenities." She started making Ren immediately groan. "It gets worse. It seemed he tried 'leveling up' his Alchemy stat so he was high off his rocker while doing it."

"Please stop."

"It gets even worse."

The brown haired teen just put his head in his hands out of shame. "Of course it does…"

"Commander Heathcliff decided to send some of our members to deal with him as I was busy at the time dealing with recruiting. He sent Kuradeel, Nautilus and Geoffrey after him." This next part was really painful to say, as it only served to question if this was a guild or a daycare center she belonged to. "Helios kicked all three of their butts without using his weapon. Geoffrey was knocked out in a pond, Kuradeel was hanging off the bridge to the gate and by the time I was sent down to apprehend him, Helios just delivered a pile driver to Nautilus before running away at the sight of me." She really felt bad for the kid, somebody that quiet didn't deserve what happened to him. "Nautilus didn't come out of his room for four days after that."

Ren took in a deep breath while clasping his hands together in polite rage. Once he exhaled and took a bit to compose himself, he turned to the gate and cracked his knuckles. "Okay, time to drag him back in line. This sort of stuff ends today."

"Right, we need to gather a team and make this a sting operation!" Asuna affirmed.

"Yeah let's- Wait why can't we just go now?"

"Ren, just the two of us aren't gonna cut it. What if he gets violent huh? Liz would be in the crossfire." The vice commander shuddered to think what could be happening to her best friend at this moment.

He understood Asuna's worries but found them to be a bit farfetched. Helios was a lot of things but violent to friends? Not really. "I'm sure we can handle it."

"Piledriver. Nautilus. Four days." she reminded.

Then again, Helios did have a habit of acting crazy under pressure. "Fine, I'll get Alice but no one else. He's actually more afraid of her than he let's on."

Deciding that this was the best course of action, Asuna allowed Ren to send a message to his girlfriend so they could all congregate at Liz's smith shop. After a quick catch up session and annoying groans, the trio set forth on their self mandated quest to save Lizbeth from the monster that is Helios.

"So Asuna…" Alice started in an attempt to strike up conversation. "Got any idea as to why Helios would be at his sworn enemy's shop today?"

The long haired girl could only shrug and keep moving forward. "I haven't the foggiest idea. From what it looked like it seemed to be weapon maintenance. But from how they were looking at each other made it seem that something else was going on. Some sinister."

Both Ren and Alice looked at each other with worry. They had already decided that it was for the best not to mention the whole coat situation as they weren't sure who was worse, Match Maker Asuna or Mama Bear Asuna. Putting ideas in the rapier user's head was the last thing the tactician wanted.

Within time, the three of them all made their way to the front of Lizbeth's shop. True to her fears, Asuna quietly jiggled the lock on the door to see that is was still locked shut. She gave a desperate look to her friends who followed her to the front door.

"Don't you have a key to the place? You're her best friend after all."

Asuna shook her head while mentally kicking herself for not thinking of asking for one in the past. "No I never asked for one."

Alice gave a shake to the door and shrugged. "I mean worse case I can always just yank it off its hinges. I can pay for the damages later."

"Hold on Alice, that's a last resort option if I ever heard one. Let's look around the area for a bit and survey the situation." Ren, as always, keep his head cool and wits about him as he guided the girls with plans. "Now I'm sure there must be some windows that would give us visibility without giving our position away."

The chestnut haired girl nodded her head. "Yes there is a window that has a ladder next to it. We can peek inside from a higher ground to reduce our chances of being caught."

"Why does Liz have a ladder outside her house?"

"Well awhile ago she once tried to pick up carpentry as a side skill after mastering blacksmithing but gave up after seeing all the prerequisites it had." Asuna explained. "Shame too, she was looking to expand her business into a larger building."

Ren nodded his head. "I agree, shame. But we'll use that to our advantage. Where is the ladder Asuna?"

"Follow me."

And so the couple did, soon finding said ladder right next to a tall facing window. Although movement was awkward to get all three of them up on it, they found a balance with Ren going first followed by Asuna and Alice on the steps below him. This was done to prevent any sort of 'peeking' to be done at the vehemence of Ren who insisted he wasn't that sort of guy. But as they looked down into the blacksmith's shop, they were utterly horrified at what they were witnessing at the moment.

Helios and Liz had their arms wrapped around in each other, holding their faces close in a very lover like manner before diving into each other's lips with such passion. Ren had to look away from this scene just to slap himself in the face and make sure he wasn't dreaming anything. After affirming that he was indeed awake, he could only watch in grossly fascinated horror as his best friend kissed his sworn enemy.

Alice knew that somewhere deep down in Liz that something was changing between both her and Helios after the coat incident. Something along the lines of mutual respect or dare she say at the time, friendship between them. But she would sooner believe that Akihiko Kayaba was hiding amongst them sooner than she would believe that Lizbeth and Helios would become lovers. One thing was for sure though, she was gonna claim that free upgrade to her scythe.

Now Asuna on the offhand from the stunned couple was both horrified and conflicted at the same time. It scared her entirely that the single most dangerous non killer player in the game was currently making out with her best friend. And she meant REALLY making out as those two were diving down each other's throats at this point. But then again it would also serve to explain Liz's recent jump in happiness during the last few weeks. The pink haired smith seemed so much more alive and cheerful than before, with a can do attitude that seemed to rub off on her.

If becoming Helios's girlfriend was the cause of her jump in happiness, could she truly oppose this and step in between what made her happy?

The found her answer really quick when she saw Helios begin to remove her shirt as Liz did the same to him. And what really pulled the pin on the grenade was when he lifted her up bridal style and started to carry her upstairs.

"NOPE!" Asuna yelled as she rushed down the ladder, not caring for the fact that she brought down Alice and Ren with her. Quite painfully might I add. "NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!"

"Asuna wait!"

Too bad for Ren, Asuna was past listening at this point as she rushed at the door and started kicking at it with all her strength. With one final kick before she could be stopped by the couple, the vice captain kicked down the door to the shop and rushed upstairs to Lizbeth's room. She charged forward with her shoulder and knocked down the door to her best friend's bedroom which nearly caused the shirtless Helios and currently taking her shirt off Lizbeth to jump out of their skins.

"A-A-Asuna!? What are you doing here!?" The blacksmith managed to stammer out.

"What am I doing!? What are YOU doing with him Liz!? He's your worst enemy, your living nightmare!" Asuna yelled incredulously. "Why is he not only making out with you but with you in bed!?"

Recovering from his initial shock, Helios got out of the bed and fixed the vice captain with a dirty look. "Who the hell are you to be asking shit when you broke down her door!?"

Asuna reached to her side and pulled out her rapier, threateningly pointing it at him right at his neck. "Don't you dare say anything else you slimy bastard! Not after what you were planning on doing to my best friend!"

"What? Freaking cuddle with my girlfriend in bed? You don't see me knocking down your house doors and throwing my axe at Kirito every time you guys probably bang!"

Ren and Alice finally managed to catch up with the enraged girl and knocked the weapon out of her hands. Alice pinned down her friend to the ground while the brown haired teen secured the weapon in his grasp. "For the love of God Asuna, what were you thinking!?"

"Why the fuck are you two here!?" Helios screamed.

"I could ask you the same thing! Also stop getting goddamned high, piledriving innocent Blood Oath members gets you nowhere!" Ren screeched at him.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP!"

All arguments, struggles and angry dissolved the moment Liz raised her voice at the four players. Never in her whole life had she felt so betrayed, violated of personal space and embarrassed all in one but here she was. The pink blacksmith sighed while rubbing her temples and wrapped the blanket around her bra clad chest.

"Okay I think it's time to explain what our situation is Helios."

The axe player groaned deeply, both at the stupidity of his friends and the fact that there was nothing they could do to hide this from them any longer. "Alright, start us off babe…"

' _Babe!?'_ Alice had to be dreaming right now.

And so explanations were had about how this whole romantic whirlwind started. From Helios saving Liz from those wannabe sexual harassers to going all the way to Grandzam in order to get the special ingots. What surprised Asuna was the fact that Helios was willing to jump off the mountain to save Liz's life even though he had nothing to gain from it. Perhaps deep down he didn't want to see an innocent person die. Maybe he just wanted his axe and didn't want her to die before getting it.

But the most likely scenario was that Helios was starting to realize he loved her and didn't want her to die without saying anything about it.

"So… Now you guys know the truth." Liz finished awkwardly.

"... Well this certainly explains why you've been less violent as of late, Helios." Ren started. "But we are still gonna have a talk about that kid you piledrived a while ago."

The ash haired teen cursed under his breath at his forthcoming punishment. "Well either way now that you guys know what's up, can you all now screw off so I can spend time with my girlfriend."

"... God it is so weird to hear those words come from that mouth." Alice shook her head. There was no way this day could be topped in weirdness. "Just make sure you don't do anything crazy. Oh and by the way Liz, I'll be ready for my free upgrade."

She mentally cursed herself for having made that bet but just nodded her head as she wanted the uninvited guests to leave all the faster. "Before you guys go. I want you to fix my doors that you broke."

"You mean Asuna broke." Ren pointed out. "She was the one having the freak out, we were just here for backup."

"Ren!"

"Asuna…"

"... Fine where are the tools?"

Both couples smiled at her compliance, but mainly for Ren and Alice because they weren't gonna be stuck with the work. The couple bid Helios and Liz a farewell after promising they wouldn't tell anyone else until they were ready to. Which left the two of them alone with only the sounds of Asuna using a hammer to fix the door she broke.

Liz smiled with relief as she snuggled with her boyfriend under the sheets of her bed. "What a day huh Helios?"

"You can say that again babe." He said while pulling her in close. "That damn Asuna though… Way to kill a mood."

"She was only looking out for me. I bet you'd do the same for Dagger if she was with someone." Liz said, a tiny bit of jealously letting seep through with those words.

Her negative feelings were curbed however when Helios kissed her lips to give her assurance. "Calm down geez. I told you we're just friends and yes I would look after her if something like that happened. But you better believe I'd break anyone who makes a pass at you."

Liz giggled at his own overprotective jealously. "Well glad to know you're just as jealous as I am when it comes to attention grabbing."

"Jealously is a sign of faithfulness, you know?"

An agreeing kiss was placed on his lips. "I can see."

As the two of them began to settle in, a devilish thought came to Helios's head. He turned to his girlfriend and whispered something into her ear that made the girl smile.

Meanwhile downstairs, Asuna sighed with relief once she finished repairing the door. Her payment for her impulsive actions were now paid in full and she could head on home to Kirito and Yui. However just as she was about to turn the doorknob, a sudden sound caught her attention. It was a dull, soft sound but she recogized what it meant and what those two were doing upstairs.

The sound of the bed creaking under moving weight.

She skyrocketed up the stairs in a righteous fury and slammed the door open, taking care this time not to break it. "HELIOS! HOW DARE YO-"

All the wind that drove her up those stairs died once she saw Helios and Liz were just jumping on the bed like a bunch of kids. Her raised fist fell limp to her side as both of them looked at her.

"What's wrong Asuna? Never jump on the bed before?"

"N-No! It's j-just that… I mean I-I thought you w-were…"

Helios raised his brow curiously. "Were what?"

A red blush came on her face in embarrassment the vice commander ran out of the doorway screaming apologies as she left the building. Both the tank and blacksmith laughed at her reaction and fell back down on the bed. "You're terrible, you know that?"

Helios pulled in Liz close to him as he threw the sheets over them. "Hey, got her to leave us alone right?"

"Still kinda mean to her."

"I know I'll pay for it later but it just means I can enjoy more time with you."

Liz laughed as she felt the teen kiss her neck and snuggle deep into her. Some of their friends may have discovered they were a couple but in the end it all went for the best. Aincrad's most unbelievable couple rested easy for the rest of the day, embracing their presence within each other and smiling as they rested.

 **A/N: And behold, another chapter done! Thanks for reading my longest chapter yet friends and I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be a continuation on one I've done before to give these two lovebirds a break. Hope to see you all then!**


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